Progressive Politics in Minnesota, the Nation, and the World

Big Money Is A Problem Of Republicans In Charge

For those of you who think that Democrats are the issue when it comes to big money in politics, please read this....

The Congressional House appropriations bill includes riders that would further pare back campaign finance rules via the following:

The riders attached to the appropriations bill take aim at how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) enforce campaign finance law.

In the case of the two aimed at the IRS and the SEC, Republicans are seeking to keep the agency from increasing transparency. The politicians behind these measures want to make sure the IRS never cracks down on the wealthy interest that are anonymously passing money through tax exempt non profit groups -- groups that are only allowed to hide the names of their donors under the assumption that they won't get involved in politics. This is a clear flouting of tax law, but the IRS has been slow to act -- and one of these riders aims to ensure that it never will.

The SEC-related rider would make sure that that agency -- Washington's top cop on the financial beat -- never forces corporations to disclose to their shareholders when they are using their money to fund political candidates or causes.

Finally -- in good congressional form -- the rider aimed at the FEC is both the most complicated and, according to watchdog groups who have been sounding the alarm, the most insidious. At the moment, only one trade association at a time can ask the employees of a corporation for money. The rider would bar the FEC from enforcing this rule in 2018, allowing every trade association under the sun to receive money from a given corporation during that year.

Should this rider become law, these specialty PACs would be free to solicit donations from a drastically expanded pool of potential donors, and corporate executives would be permitted to give contributions to multiple trade associations, increasing the disparity between large-dollar donors and the vast majority of Americans.

The first priority in regards to getting big money out of politics is to get a Democratic Congress back in Washington. That, unfortunately, may mean that we need Democratic candidates who can raise enough funds to compete - right now - and win, so that we can reverse some of these "rules" that keep this money in the dark and keep the faucet opened ever wider.

Elect Democrats and then hold them accountable. We will never get accountability on this issue with Republicans holding power.